Each of the different settings on the BackupBuddy settings page has a small question mark icon [[File:Pluginbuddy_tip.png‎]] that, when hovered over with the mouse, shows an explanation of what that setting will effect.

Each of the different settings on the BackupBuddy settings page has a small question mark icon [[File:Pluginbuddy_tip.png‎]] that, when hovered over with the mouse, shows an explanation of what that setting will effect.

Quick Tip

Each of the different settings on the BackupBuddy settings page has a small question mark icon that, when hovered over with the mouse, shows an explanation of what that setting will effect.

Email Notifications

Scheduled backup completion reciptients

This setting allows you to set email addresses that you would like email notifications to be sent to when a scheduled backup is completed.

Manual backup completion recipients

This setting allows you to set email addresses that you would like email notifications to be sent to when a manual backup is completed.

Backup failure/error recipients

This setting allows you to set email addresses that you would like email notifications to be sent to when a backup fails or runs into issues.

General Options

Import password (optional)

Setting this option will customize importbuddy to require a password to launch the import/migration script. This prevents unauthorized users from being able to view your backup archive listing on the destination server during Step 1 or proceed with an unauthorized import.

Backup reminders

When this option is enabled reminder links will be displayed when a post or page is updated and on the WordPress upgrades screen before you update as a reminder. The reminder links allow for easily backing up after modifications or before upgrading.

Backup all database tables

When this option is enabled ALL tables and data in the database will be backed up, even database content not related to WordPress, its content, or plugins (based on prefix). This is useful if you have other software installed on your hosting that stores data in your database.

Compatibility/Troubleshooting options

Various options to aid in making BackupBuddy work in less than ideal server environments. These are useful for working around problems. You may be directed by support to modify these if you encounter problems.

Enable ZIP compression

When BackupBuddy creates a backup file this is always created as a ZIP archive format file. Whether or not the files that are included in the archive are compressed in size is an option and this setting enables you to choose whether or not files will be compressed when stored within the archive.

The choice of whether to use compression or not is based on a time/space trade-off: if files are compressed it takes longer to produce the archive but the archive will (in almost all cases) be smaller in size; where as if files are not compressed the archive takes less time to produce but will (in almost all cases) be larger.

The reason why a compressed archive takes longer to produce is of course because the mechanics of compressing files is processor intensive and slower than just copying file content from one place to another.

The reason why, just sometimes, an archive containing compressed files may be larger than one containing the same files in an uncompressed form is that some of the files on your site may already be in a compressed format - particularly media files - and trying to compress an already compressed file, aside from being very processor intensive, can result in a larger file.

The default for this setting is checked, meaning that compression is enabled - this is usually the best option for most sites as it gives a good balance between speed of producing the backup and the size of the backup file. Another reason why you might want compression enabled is if you have a large site which approaches the size limits of the standard ZIP archive file format - around 4GB. Provided that you have no time constraint in producing a backup file then enabling compression means that you will get your site into a zip archive which you might otherwise not do if the files were included without compression.

On the other hand, if you have time constraints on producing your backup then you might want to consider disabling compression so that the backup file may be produced faster but of course at the expense of being larger.

Another reason you might want to consider disabling compression is if you have a large number of media files on your site - which as explained, may already be in a compressed format. It is worth experimenting in this case, try a backup with compression enabled, see how long it takes and how large the backup file is. Then try a backup with compression disabled and again how long does it take and how large is it. By comparing the two and based on your requirements and any other constraints you can decide whether it is better to have compression enabled or disabled on that specific site.

Perform integrity check on backup files

By default BackupBuddy checks each backup file for integrity and completion the first time it is viewed on the Backup page. On some server configurations this check may cause memory problems as the integrity checking process is intensive. If you are experiencing out of memory errors on the Backup file listing, you can uncheck this option to disable this feature.

Advanced: Force compatibility mode backups

WARNING: This option forces the less reliable mode of operation. Only use if absolutely necessary. Enabling this option can cause backup failures if it is not needed. Under normal circumstances compatibility mode is automatically used as needed without user intervention. However under some server configurations the native backup system is unavailable but is incorrectly reported as functioning by the server. Forcing compatibility mode may fix problems in this situation by bypassing the native backup system check entirely.

Logging level

Throughout BackupBuddy there are different levels of log statements that can be written to a txt document for different processes that are run in BackupBuddy. The logging feature is useful for finding out what processes have been run and when any errors occur.

Here is a list of the different logging levels:

None - Nothing will be recorded in the log file.

Errors Only - This is the default logging level, where only error statements will be recorded in the log file.

Errors and Warnings - Only Errors and warnings will be recorded in the log file.

Everything - This is also know as debug mode because everything that happens will be recorded in the log file, making it very easy to see when different actions occurred and when errors occurred in relation to other events.

Archive Storage Limits

Maximum number of archived backups

This option allows you to set the maximum number of backups that will be stored locally.

By default this option is set to 0 which means that there is no limit.

If a maximum number of backups is set and is exceeded BackupBuddy will delete local backups from oldest to youngest until the number of backups is equal to the maximum that is set.

Maximum size of archived backups

This option allows you to set a maximum total filesize of all of the local backups.

By default this option is set to 0 which means that there is no limit.

If a maximum size is set and is exceeded Backup will delete local backups from oldest to youngest until the total filesize of the local backups is equal to or lower then the maximum that is set.

Remote Offsite Storage / Destinations

This section of the settings page allows you to access a tabbed menu with the different account information for each different remote storage device.

The available remote storage devices are:

Amazon S3

Dropbox

Rackspace

FTP

Email

Once you have added different accounts for different devices this area has built in clients that allow you to manage the BackupBuddy backups on those different accounts. Those built in clients will show a list of the backups on those remote devices. You will be able to delete and copy those BackupBuddy backups to where you local backups are being stored.

Backup Exclusions

This feature allows you to select any directories that you don't want to be included in the backups that are created. This feature is very useful if there are any large directories that aren't necessary that can be excluded and allow the backup process complete in a shorter amount of time.

If BackupBuddy is dropping into compatibility mode during the backup process then none of the directories will be excluded. In order to use directory exclusion BackupBuddy must be using exec during the backup process.